The Puddles Arc
by AppleQB
Summary: A series of POV stories. Ken and Daisuke centric. (Puddles is a stand alone piece all the other stories are centered around it)
1. Puddles

Disclaimer- I do not own any aspect of Digimon ^_^ Borrowing it without permission, but I promise to give them back relatively unharmed ^_^. No money I being made from this.

~~~~~~

I didn't know what to think. I still don't ya know. I've never been really good at this stuff but... I sort of... well I didn't want to tell Chibimon I...

He showed up on my doorstep soaking wet, ok. Heh, I'm sort of sad it wasn't me who answered... but then again that would have been really weird. 

So, Jun was making me watch some stupid show about some stupid people, I wanted to watch a game... No way I was gonna get up and answer the door if she was gonna make me watch that lame-o stuff. 

She jumped up with this huff that she learned from me, she says I get it from her but that's a lie, sister's are liars. I was smiling all the same and staring at the T.V. ya know, to pretend I hadn't noticed, I thought it was funny, well it was. 

Alright, a little bit later I can hear her shuffle back into the room but I was totally interested in the Blonde girl and the Red-head that had gotten into a chick fight over some guy or what ever. Heh, there were hairs and strips of torn clothing flying everywhere, it rocked actually. 

"So? Who was it?" I said after a bit cuz, ya know, Jun can't shut up so just standing behind me was creepin' me out. But she didn't answer so I turned around... He was standing there. He was soaking wet and just standing there staring at me. 

I fell of the couch. IT'S NOT FUNNY! He was just staring... and he was... focused, like he was… studying me. So I fell of the couch and scrambled to my feet. "Ken." It just came out cuz, I had NO idea why he's there. 

I looked behind him at Jun, she was staring hard at him, trying to figure out who he is, that had to be it, other wise she would have been yelling at me about the floor like it was my fault or something that he was soaked and wet and dripping. 

I nearly vaulted over the couch and grabbed his wrist to pull him into the bathroom. I didn't... don't know why, but I just didn't want her to recognize him. I was sort of surprised she didn't nail his identity on sight, I mean he's been all over the news. Genius Wiz. Missing Kid. Sudden Reappearance. The news has been nothing but Ken and there he was, in my apartment. 

Still, I guess, he didn't look much like his pictures. He wasn't in the gray uniform and his hair wasn't it's normal perfect but it wasn't messy either. 

He didn't look how I was used to him either, No whip. But I... No Whip... not the Kaizer, just Ken. 

I hadn't really seen him since I made that offer, on the bridge that time. He'd been in the Digital World once or twice, not evil or anything like that... but I hadn't talked to him. I wondered how he knew where I lived... He was shaking. 

I felt stupid. It's not like that's new or anything. But it wasn't exactly Spring outside and he must have just come from outside cuz the skin on his wrist was freezing and I could feel him jerking, like he's fighting the shivers or something. 

I left him in the bathroom to run and get some stuff, a couple of towels, a dry shirt... I got back to the bathroom and throw everything on the floor and... he was staring at me again. 

I asked him what he thought he was doing, "Ken, what do you think you're doing?" but he still didn't answer. So I threw a towel over his head and started trying to get off his wet cloths, then some more towels and I dragged him to my room for a proper blanket. 

I tried to take care of his clothes but it was gonna take a while for them to dry so... I went back to my room. Back to my room where Ken was, just sitting there, staring. I wished Vee-mon was there with me but I had left him in Primary Village to help out... it was a good idea at the time. 

~~~~~ 

I wanted to know why. 

I know I was staring but I couldn't help it. I thought if I looked at him long enough I would understand; like he was a math problem or an equation I could solve. It wasn't quite that easy. 

I wasn't having an easy time of things. I had gotten tired of my mother trying to make up for her mistakes. I had already forgiven her; it was her fault, but it was mine as well. I had grown tired of the reporters following me, trying to get any scrap of me they could get their hands on. I had expected that to some degree. but I thought they would get tired of me after a month. 

I was, I am having problems getting over what I did. I don't think I ever will. I was the Digimon Kaizer. Manipulation. Control. Slavery. Torture. Murder. I did it. I did all of it. I needed time. I needed to get away from the circus, so I ran. Out on to the streets I ran for hours. It started to rain and still I ran. None of it mattered though, I just needed, I need to understand.  

Wormmon's forgiveness I can understand, just barely. He would never leave or betray me; he's my partner. Motomiya Daisuke's forgiveness is incomprehensible. The things I did, how could he ever- 

Daisuke had offered his forgiveness, his understanding, and most of all, his friendship. I couldn't... 

When I stopped running I realized where I was, in front of his apartment building. When Daisuke and I had been on opposite sides, when he had been the leader of my enemies, I had wanted to know everything. Daisuke interested me. In my superior ignorance I had thought he was an idiot, just at first, and it angered me. Then, I realized it was something more. There are things about Daisuke that I didn't understand, things to do with my past that I barely knew about. Things I'm just now starting to remember but still don't understand. I wanted to know everything about him. Everything. 

I wondered had it been an accident or if this is where I had wanted to be the whole time. In front of Daisuke's Building, in front of Daisuke's door, in front of Motomiya Daisuke; all I could do was stare. 

In his room, letting the blankets warm me, I realized I was being a bastard. Daisuke had been trying to start a conversation with me for an hour or more. I was just staring at him, trying to figure him out. It was probably very rude. I stared long enough for my clothes to dry; he retrieved them for me and still I said nothing. I put on my clothes (a cotton shirt, a sweater and a pair of slacks) mechanically; I wanted all the attention I had to be directed towards figuring Daisuke out. 

My time was almost up. I wasn't going to say anything, I had nothing to say, and once my clothes were on I would have to go. I think Daisuke knew that because as I straightened my sweater and look away from him, finally, turning to leave, he grabbed my arm. 

It wasn't a strong grip but it was rather firm. For a wild moment I thought he would ask me not to leave. I think I was hoping he would say that, hoping he would give me more time to try and understand him. "I meant it," He said instead, "When I... on the bridge. I... I want you to join us, Ken." Even after knowing everything there is about Motomiya Daisuke, he still surprised me. 

I turned to look in his eyes, or rather I turned and his eyes caught me. Brown. Just Brown. But there was something in them, maybe it was his words, the honesty and sincerity and something not quite corporeal. 

~~~~~ 

He kissed me. I... He kissed me. I was totally not expecting that. I mean one minute I just... I was trying to get him to understand. It wasn't something he could blame himself over forever, he wasn't the same person and... He kissed me. 

I had his arm and I had said it finally: I meant it, I wanted him to join us. Then I saw his eyes close and I thought he was gonna faint or something but his hands came around and sort of grabbed my face, ya know, and he sort of just leaned in and kissed me. 

It was sort of... well... I mean it wasn't something you would expect from an evil genius... but I already knew he wasn't that person any more. Sort of soft just light but solid, ya know... like I wasn't imagining it. It was... It was sort of... 

I really wanted to hit him or something, like punch him in the jaw. And I wanted to pull at him... closer. I wanted to shove him away... or was it shove him against a wall and... I...didn't do anything. I remember my hands sort of fell to my sides like noodles or something and I just stood there not moving... I'm... not really sure I could have... if I wanted to... 

It was sort of nice. 

Then his eyes flew up like he just realized what he was doing. And let me go and took a step back. Man his eyes were huge like shock or something... I wonder how I must have looked... I know I was staring at him waiting for him to say something... anything... I couldn't. 

He bolted. They say he's lightening fast on the soccer field. I remember playing him; he was fast... I don't remember him ever being that fast. He had a good two seconds on me before I could think. I heard the front door shut before I even made it out of my room. 

I followed him out to the hallway, there were people coming out of the elevator... he must have taken the stairs... There was no way I was gonna catch him. I ran back in the apartment, to the window that faced the street. There he was, I could see him streaking down the sidewalk, disappearing in the rain. 

What could I do? I just backed up and sat on the couch and stared at the TV. Jun asked me something... like "What was that all about"... or something... 

He kissed me. 


	2. Memories

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or the characters therein. They belong to a long and various list of owners that does not include me in any way, shape, or form. What a shame. I'm using them with out permission but I'm not making any money off of these ^_^ and I don't mean any harm.

Notes: OK… this really took forever to post. This is the sequel to Puddles, which I wrote a couple of weeks ago. Puddles was supposed to be a short One Shot that I just wrote one day in my Live Journal that I decided to post on the ML. Anyway, someone asked for some more (I think it was Vain actually) so I decided to give it a shot, and here it is. I feel I have to apologize because this is written in Daisuke's POV and my Daisuke rambles a lot ^_^;;  And this is really more of an in between that makes the jump between Puddles and the Next part which is already written and will not take nearly as long to get posted as this. I think the next part is worth it, but while you wait ^_~  here is Memories.

~~~~~~~~~~

It took me two weeks to find him. Well, it was more like two weeks of shock and confusion before I decided to take action. Well, Actually, it took two weeks for Jun to get tired of my constantly shocked and confused mood before she forced me to take action… it's all the same thing.

It didn't take long to find him; I already knew where he lived. Everyone knows where the great boy wonder lives—the trouble was getting the nerve to show up on his doorstep. See, The reason why there isn't an hour-long wait in front of his door is because everyone who knows where he lives, knows that Ichijouji Ken does not like uninvited guests. There were some pretty scary stories going around about his reactions to some of those uninvited fans and news crews who tried to catch the genius at his "private residence." Not pretty at all, really. When he disappeared, the news crews camped outside of his apartment building, trying to catch a glimpse of his parents. But they disappeared after all of the hype over him showing up again. And then Things were back to normal, and most of his fan girls,--at least the ones I knew in school,--seemed to think he was taking some down time after whatever had happened and that he would be back to himself in no time. I was one of the few people who knew the truth about what happened; at least I thought I did. 

I knew things would never go back to being the same, but after he showed up at my house like that… all bets were off. 

So there I was, right in the middle of this freakishly weird situation, standing in front of his building with no idea of what I was doing and nothing but a plate of cookies for help (heh, the cookies were Jun's idea). I know it's rude to visit someone without telling them you're coming first, but I didn't want him to have time to prepare, after all, I didn't. Jun's idea was to take the cookies as an apology,. She helped me make them and everything; she's not completely useless after all. It was also Jun's idea to give me a push in the right direction when I was frozen in place on the sidewalk, but I'll never tell her that. Even so, I had plenty of time in the elevator to think about how completely stupid I was being. 

At that moment I wished I had brought Veemon with me; I sort of felt like I was going back to see the Kaizer in his fortress without my partner. The elevator made a little ding noise and I was there. It was slightly less evil than I had expected -- a little potted plant in the corner under a window, very clean hallways, plain walls—it was… er …modest. I think I had been expecting spikes or something. There were only three apartments on the floor; the Ichijouji apartment was the furthest down the hall. 

Anyway, once I was at the door I was fine, oddly enough. I would have expected to be scared out of my mind by then but I guess not. I knocked on the door and braced myself for anything. A couple seconds later, a small woman opened the door and stared at me, she looked tired and stressed. For a moment I though I was at the wrong door, then I remembered I had seen this woman on TV begging for her son to come back. She was Ken's mother. Seeing her like that made me feel bad for disturbing her, but at that point there was no way around it.

I bowed,. "Good afternoon, Ichijouji-san my name is Motomiya Daisuke and I came to visit Ken. I'm sorry for showing up unannounced but I couldn't find your number. I brought cookies," then I held out the plate. I had practiced that; I wasn't supposed to say it that fast.

She stood there for so long that I was sure she was gonna tell me to beat it. But just as I was getting ready to turn around and leave, her eyes filled with tears and a huge grin broke out on her face. Well, it wasn't exactly huge but I got the feeling it was as huge as she would let herself grin. She pulled me into the apartment and started gushing.

She went on and on about being so happy to meet one of Ken's friends. I tried to tell her I wasn't his "friend" but she was talking too much. 'Sides, I wasn't sure if it was true or not. Why else would I come all the way here to talk to him if he wasn't my friend? And I had asked him to join us… 

I was starting to confuse myself, and that's when she took me to Ken. To a closed door in the back of the apartment, she knocked softly and said, "Ken, dear, please open the door."

He was quiet, so quiet that I didn't even think he was in the room. It would have really sucked if he had decided to go into the Digital World on the day I dropped by his house, but he answered, "I'm a little tired, mama.": 

She sighed like she was tired and tried again, "But Ken, honey, your friend Motomiya Daisuke is here to see you."

I sort of wished she hadn't said that.

There was a scuffing noise behind the door. I would have laughed at that; I could perfectly imagine the look on his face when he heard her say that. But it wasn't funny. I was expecting him to tell me to get lost--anyone else would have--but after a couple of seconds he answered, "All right."

His mother smiled at me again, like she had when she first pulled me in. I wondered if she was always tired and I wanted to say thank you or something like that but she pushed the plate of cookies back into my hands, mumbling something about Ken not eating, and then she wandered off before I could say a word. 

I opened the door and stepped in slowly--talk about "The Lion's Den"! The first thing I saw when I walked in was a desk across the room with the computer on it, the computer was on and it was the only light in the room.  The next thing I noticed was Ken sitting on his almost ceiling-high bed, looking down at me. He was watching me and I was watching him. I guess we both expected one of us to attack the other at first. But the more I looked at him the harder it got to see him as the Kaizer; he looked nearly harmless right then.

Standing around and staring at him was getting old so I said, "I brought some cookies, your mom said you haven't been eating,. Would you like some?"

His eyes shifted to the plate of cookies then back to me. He still didn't speak.

I tried again. "Do you mind if I come up?" He didn't answer; instead he pulled his legs under himself and made room for me on the bed, so I took that as "yes."

With one hand, cuz the other was holding the cookies, I scrambled up the side ladder and flipped around so my legs were hanging over the side, I had practice with that sort of thing at summer camp. Anyway, I didn't want to crowd him or anything, it would have been weird, so I was trying to keep a lot of space between us without making it look that way. I dunno if worked cuz he was still just staring. Ya know, he did that all of the last time too only it wasn't so obvious cuz he was cold and shaking and dripping all over the place.

I broke a cookie over the plate and ate the piece; I didn't want to get crumbs in his bed. He took a whole cookie off of the plate—(maybe he thought they had been poisoned or something)-- and bit into it; he didn't make crumbs, figures.

"I hope you like them," I said,. "I used my mom's recipe, well, Jun helped, too. She's my sister. I guess You sort of met her when you came to my apartment."

His eyes closed. It shut me up cuz he was moving. Then, when he reopened his eyes he was focused on something behind me. I turned to see but there was nothing there but the wall. Then He started talking, he said, "I'm sorry for coming to your house and I'm… sorry for surprising you."

The way he had said "surprising" told me he wasn't just talking about unexpectedly dropping by my house. If he was talking about what I thought he was talking about, then it was fine he was apologizing. But, since I had spent the last two weeks in shock and confusion trying not to remember the dizzy lightheaded feelings I had gotten when he had kissed me or anything after that, it probably wasn't a good idea for him to talk about that, while we were together, in his dimly lit room, on his bed, alone. 

So I said, "I didn't come about that. I wanted to see if you were Ok." That wasn't a complete lie; I really was sort of concerned and I did think we could help him.

I don't think he believed me cuz he gave me a sidelong look, then turned away and said, "I'm fine."

I said, "I don't believe you." cuz I didn't and I wasn't gonna let him get out of this so easily.

"I am." he said.

So I said, "You're not. Your mother says you haven't been eating and you've been locked up in your room." Well, she didn't exactly say all of that, but it was probably still true.

He took another cookie and munched on it, "She's over reacting. Besides, it isn't–" 

I cut him off there, "Don't say 'this isn't your problem' because you made it my problem when you got me involved." Damn right.

He said, "I wasn't going to say 'It isn't your problem,' I was going to say it isn't what you think, but it isn't your problem either."

So maybe I had jumped the gun on that, but at least he was smiling so he still had a sense of humor, even if it was at my expense, "Ok then," I said, "what is it that I'm not thinking?"

He shifted. "I need time."

I said, "More than a month and a half?"

He sighed and said, "I'm not ready yet. I did… horrific things that I'm still trying to deal with and I'm… I still need to find who I am."

It would not even describe half of it if I said he had trouble saying those few sentences. I had no idea what he was talking about; I guess it was one of those things you have to go through to understand. But, I could tell he meant what he was talking about, so, I was gonna let it slide. Then, someone sneezed.

Oh yeah, a little "achoo." It wasn't me and it wasn't Ken but he froze like a statue and slowly looked up at me. I asked, "What was that?"

I was willing to overlook that whole crap about him saying he was fine, but this was totally different so when he said, "It was nothing. I think you should go now." I didn't move.

I said his name cuz I had the feeling saying "Bullshit" wasn't going to have the right effect.

He shook his head so I asked again, "Ken, what was that?"

"Don't," he choked, but he wasn't talking to me. Behind him a little green puff with a leaf on the end of a twig attached to it hopped out of its hiding place--a digimon. I really wondered if it had been there the whole time and how I had missed it. It bounced around Ken and nestled in his lap, Ken was looking at me again, as if he were afraid I would start screaming. He stroked the digimon gently and said, "This is Leafmon. He's Wormmon's baby form."

"Oh," was all I could say at the moment. I was remembering the last time I saw Wormmon, after he led us to the engine room and helped us disable the fortress, and after he gave the last of his energy to Magnamon so he could defeat Chimeramon. It was when I watched him explode into data right in Ken's arms. "I thought… he was dead."

Then Leafmon said, "Digimon don't die, they just get reconfigured." 

I think I remember hearing that before, but then I was curious. "When did you get him?"

"He hatched from an egg in Primary village about two weeks ago. It was right before…" he stopped. Right, we still weren't talking about that.

That at least explained what the digimon in the area had been talking about when they said they had seen someone out of place hanging around. That's why Veemon had been in Primary Village when Ken had decided to drop by… Damn it.

Anyway, they looked… well I don't wanna say cute, and happy isn't the right word either… they looked comfortable together. But, they were waiting for me to do something; what it was, I didn't know but I broke another cookie and handed it to Leafmon and I said, "You should try these, Chibimon loves them."

They both breathed a sigh of relief, so I guess I said the right thing, and then Leafmon attacked the cookie in my hand. I laughed cuz Leafmon was another partner that ate like a monster. But Ken looked really serious and he said my name then he paused like he wasn't sure if he was allowed to call me that, which is stupid cuz I call him Ken all the time. But anyway, I nodded but he still looked like he didn't know what to say, so it was Leafmon that spoke first. 

He mouth was full of another cookie that he had managed to get a hold of without my notice and he said, "Ken doesn't want you to tell the others," between bites.

I looked back at Ken and asked, "Why not?"

He said, "They might not be quite as forgiving as you and I can't…" He looked back at Leafmon, who was in the process of destroying the rest of the cookies on the plate, pulled him back and held him.

Since I was watching him hold Leafmon like he was a fragile piece of china and a lifeline at the same time, it didn't take me long to figure out what he was getting at. "Hey, Ken, listen, I can't speak for them but I know they wouldn't do something like that, they wouldn't take your partner. No one can, really. I'm sure Leafmon would be able to explain this a lot better than I ever could… But if it will make you feel better, I won't tell them, but they'll find out eventually."

He nodded and said, "Thank you."

I grinned and said, "No problem."

So that was that, but I didn't have anywhere to go. Jun wasn't coming back for an hour and a half -- I later wondered if he noticed that was the exact amount of time he was at my house -- and I had only been there for about a 10 maybe 15 minutes so I had a while, and I told him just that.

He chuckled; he's got a nice voice. Anyway, he picked up another cookie and said, "Next time you come you should tell your sister not to worry about coming to get you because my mother will want me to walk you home," in an off handed way. Then he broke of a piece of the cookie and gave it to Leafmon who was squirming, but that's beside the point. 

You have no idea how cool it was for me to hear him way that. He had just said he wanted me to come back and it made me feel all goofy inside, but I had to play it cool so I said, "Yeah, but wouldn't that mean you'd be walking back by yourself? I mean, it's a long way."

He just shrugged and said, "I remember."

I was suddenly reminded that he showed up at my apartment without shoes. He had run the whole distance, there and back, bare foot in the rain. Yeah, he would remember. I wanted to smack myself cuz I kept almost thinking about… that… so I turned to Leafmon and said, "Hmm next time I come I'll have to bring Chibimon so you guys can hang out."

Leafmon said, "Really?" and he looked like I just promised him the biggest fudge sundae in the world. I nodded, and he started bouncing around.

In the middle of all I picked up one of the last cookies. It was still warm and gooey because it had been at the bottom of the pile, I took a huge bite of this cookie and it got goo  all over my face, figures. Ken and Leafmon started to outright laugh at me while I tried to lick all that goo off of my face but I keep missing this one spot off to the corner of my mouth. 

Finally, Ken pulled himself together with one last laugh and said, "Wait, wait, just stop. You're only smearing it and making it worst, let me help." Then he reached over to wipe it off.

I probably should have wiped it off myself or stopped him. So I have no one but myself to blame it on that when he reached over to wipe the goo off, he touched my face, and I was assaulted by memories. 


	3. Reverie

Title: Reverie (Part of the Puddles arc following Memories) 

Rating: R

Warnings: Lesse, there's Yaoi mainly, weirdness, and of course masturbation (really, how could I have left it out ^_^;;)

Disclaimer: Standard. I don't own Digimon, characters, locations ect. I'm not making money off of these nor to I mean any ill will ^_^ Just trying to tell a story.

Notes:OK While reading this, I will be surprised if you do not become confused at least once. ^_^;; but I have discussed this with my beta and she seems to agree with me that putting the explanation at the end will work better so I can explain things in definite terms instead of being vague at the beginning so as not to ruin the story. 'Sides, It's supposed to be a bit confusing since it is Daisuke's POV and he gets so terribly disoriented.

Reverie 

Have you ever been hit so hard by a memory you forget where you are or what you're doing? It's a weird feeling, let me tell you. 

He touched my face again and there I was back two weeks ago. Not to when he kissed me-- although I was sort of thinking about that too cuz he was sitting so very close-- but from later that night. That night, after I had gotten tired of staring at the window and the TV and Jun asking me what happened; after all of that, I went to sleep and had a dream. 

I had stormed into my room, back to the scene of the. . . Anyway, one of the towels he had used was still lying on my bed so I picked it up, tossed it out of my room and slammed the door behind it; I didn't even want to look at that thing. But, the problem was it had been lying on my bed for a good hour and before that Ken had been sitting there for that much longer, so it smelled like him. My bed smelled like the guy that had just given me my first kiss. There was no way in hell I was going to leave my room and explain the reason I didn't want to sleep in my bed to my sister OR my parents, so I had to deal with it.

Boy was I glad Veemon wasn't coming back the next day, I didn't think I could explain why my room smelled like the Digimon Kaizer, why I smelled like Ken. I could still feel him, his hands on my face and his. . . I REALLY shouldn't have been thinking about that but I couldn't get away from it, so there was no wonder why I had that dream.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daisuke sits in a classroom waiting for the teacher to come in. He is in trouble but we don't know why. 

The door opens and it is Ken, he sits on the desk next to Daisuke and asks, "Why did you fight me?"

Daisuke quietly asks, "When did I fight you?"

Ken says, "On the hill."

Daisuke thinks he is talking about the Digital World. I tell Ken that it was him fighting us, but he doesn't hear me.

Daisuke says, "But it was you fighting us."

Ken nods and stands up. He says, "You're right. Let's not fight," and holds his hand out, it's gloved. The glove looks familiar but we can't be sure about why.

Daisuke takes the hand and Ken pulls him up. Ken says, "Let's get out of here."

Daisuke says, "But what about my punishment?" He is talking about the teacher.

Ken smiles and says, "That can wait until later," I don't think he is talking about the teacher at all.

Daisuke nods and Ken leads him to the door and out of the classroom. I follow them out but we end up in the hallway of my house and Daisuke is leading Ken into my room. Ken is wet and wrapped in towels again. 

Once in the room Daisuke says, "You shouldn't make a habit of this, you'll make yourself sick." Next Daisuke will ask Ken to sit down and then, when Ken doesn't move, he will help him sit on the bed. That is how it happened

That is not what is happening.

Ken says, "Come sit with me, I have something to talk to you about."

Daisuke follows him without argument, but Ken doesn't exactly talk. He guides Daisuke's head to the pillow then stands and places Daisuke's legs on the bed. Daisuke doesn't fight him because they agreed not to, but I can tell he is confused and just a bit worried. Ken smiles and Daisuke is no longer worried, he knows Ken will not hurt him. 

Ken sits on the bed, above Daisuke, and leans down to kiss him.

The kiss is slow and almost painfully good unlike the first one, which was too fast and too hot and almost desperate. I know because I can feel what Daisuke feels, just barely. Watching them and feeling the ghost of Ken's mouth working against my lips and the weight of his body against my chest… I can't begin to describe.

Ken starts to move from Daisuke's mouth to his throat and down leaving a tingly trail down our neck to our shoulder. It feels. . . I can't bare to watch anymore but I can't look away either.

Daisuke and I gasp when Ken finds a very sensitive spot and starts to switch between nibbling and licking.

Daisuke says, "Stop." I want to kick him but I can't and I want to scream and tell Ken to keep going but he wouldn't hear me.

Ken does stop. He stands up and walks out of the room. 

Daisuke gets up and runs after him. When he gets out of the room he is not in the hallway, he is chained to the side of a cliff. We recognize this. Above us the Kaizer is laughing.

Daisuke screams, "Let us go!." He is talking about Veemon but Veemon isn't with him. He has not noticed yet.

The Kaizer laughs harder. 

There is a rumbling the whole cliff starts to shake and then suddenly Daisuke is no longer cuffed. He falls a short distance and lands softly on the top of a hill. He is wearing a cape. It is heavier than it looks but Daisuke doesn't seem to notice.

A voice from the bottom of the hill shouts, "Let Wormmon go!" It is Ken. He is wearing my flame Jacket; it looks weird on him.

I look around and see Wormmon handing over Raidramon who looks hungry. I also see the other digidestined and their armor digivolved partners ready to pounce on Ken at a moments notice. Daisuke smiles cruelly and says, "Let's trade. You for your partner."

I would not be doing this.

Ken agrees, "Anything, just don't hurt Wormmon."

Daisuke orders Wormmon cut down and he tells Ken to come to him.

Ken walks up the hill slowly and when he reaches Daisuke he leans in and kisses him.

Daisuke doesn't stand still; he grabs Ken by the hair and pulls him closer. The kiss is rough and hard and I think Daisuke is trying to bite. This isn't right.

I scream, "STOP!"

Daisuke suddenly shoves Ken away, to the ground. Ken bounces back quickly and he dives at Daisuke, tackling him. They start to slide down the hill.

The ground is hard and the rocks are digging into my back even though Daisuke had on the heavy cape. It hurts. Daisuke doesn't seem to care; he is smiling. 

Ken is shouting at Daisuke, "What's wrong with you. This isn't right. SNAP OUT OF IT!"

It starts to get dark and I can't see but I can still feel the rocks as I slide. Ken and Daisuke fade from view and suddenly I stop sliding. I stand up but I still can't see anything around me; it's too dark. I think I am back in the classroom again but I have no idea how I know that.

I hear a voice whisper, "Don't move."

And then, I can't. I feel held by invisible rope and someone is circling around me just out of sight drifting closer and further away. The voice asks, "What do you want from me?"

I don't know who is speaking but the voice is familiar. I say, "Who are you?"

The voice asks, "What can you give me?"

I say, "I don't understand."

The person stops circling and is behind me. They step closer and I feel a finger slide on my back from the bottom of my neck all the way down. It feels weird, very slow and very light, I think it's a form of torture. The finger starts to trail back up and I want to get away from it. 

Then, a figure appears in front of me and I forget about the finger on my back. It's Hikari. She's smiling at me and I don't think I've ever seen her look so beautiful. I think I stop breathing. I haven't dreamed of Kari in a long time. I've missed it.

She walks up to me and raises her hand to touch my face. She rubs my cheek just like my mother used to when I was a little kid. She says, "What do you want from me, Daisuke?"

I'm not sure how to answer her but I open my mouth to try. 

She shakes her head and closes my mouth then sticks her finger over my lips to stop me from talking. She looks sad now but it makes her even more beautiful. I feel terrible because I know I made her sad, some how. She says, "What can you give me?"

I don't have an answer for her, and she knows that. She smiles; it's still a sad smile though. She says something but I can't hear her and she steps back and disappears in the darkness.

I feel hurt. She will not come back; I know that. I also feel hands on my shoulders, the same hands the finger belonged to. They never went away, I just started to notice them again. The hands are rubbing me and feel nice. They move from my shoulders to my chest and the person behind me steps closer and presses against my back. One of the hands snakes it's way up my chest to touch my cheek and I hear a voice in my ear say, "What do you want from me, Daisuke?"

It's Ken. I think my heart stops.

His hands are still moving, stroking my cheek and my chest. He is waiting for an answer.

I start to say, "I…" but I choke on the words.

I can feel the smile on his face against my neck. His hand on my chest starts to move down. He whispers in my ear, "What can you give me, Daisuke?" 

I'm not sure if I have an answer for him or not, I can't concentrate. His hands are on me and it feels so real. He works slowly down my stomach and I can feel each finger as they work their way down to my waistline, massaging and rubbing me slowly. Then I feel his mouth again, it's found that sensitive spot on my collarbone and he starts to lick it again like he's trying to drive me crazy. 

It's working.

I can't think anymore and I can barely breath. My knees give out and I sag but he's still holding me and his fingers are so close and I want him to touch me more than I've wanted anything in the world, ever. His fingers hover for a moment and I can feel his breath and his tongue and his mouth and his heat all over me. And then—

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up nearly screaming with frustration. I was so tangled in my sheets I could barely sit up. I kicked and scrambled out of them to get out of the bed and out of the room. When I finally made out to the door got tripped and tangled in the towel I had dropped there. I landed hard sprawled out in the middle of the hallway and as soon as I hit the floor I started scrambling to get the towel off of me. I fought my way up and I just managed to dash into the bathroom and locked the door behind me.

I wanted to throw up. I tried but I couldn't do anything but a dry cough and finally I gave up. I ended up lying on the cool bathroom floor covered in sweat and other more sticky stuff. I could hardly breath and my heart was trying to jump out of my chest and I was hard. I was so hard it was impossible to stop my self from reaching down under my boxers and stoking myself. It felt like my hand belong to someone else as I lay there trying not to pass out from the intense feeling. My eyes closed and I could see a face. That did it; I had to bite my lip to stop from screaming out his name as I came.

After that I lay on the floor not moving except for a few shaky breaths, and that's when I promised myself. I promised that I wouldn't think of or remember what had happened that night ever again. I dragged myself off of the floor and cleaned up the mess I had made of the bathroom and then I went to spend the rest of the night on the couch. I didn't care what kind of excuse I would have to make but there was absolutely no way I was gonna go back to sleep in my room. I still didn't get that much sleep that night, or any time that week and it took so much effort to not think about. . . Well, lets just say that explained my constant look of shock and confusion.

Still, I had been doing a marvelous job of forgetting and he wrecked it all just by touching my face.

I started to come out of my little daydream or whatever you call it and I wondered how long I had been out of it. It couldn't have been that long because I noticed I had stopped breathing again but I hadn't passed out, that and Ken's hand was still on my face. 

It was yet another odd feeling to add to the list, watching him watch me with everything else, including time, just disappear. I wanted to laugh cuz I could just imaging what would happen next.

He would brush my face for a bit longer than necessary, pulling his had away like he didn't really want to, and then he would slowly bring his fingers to his lips and suck the goo off. . .

I almost moaned and I was really ready to kick myself for having the reaction I was having to my crazy delusions. And then I realized. . .

I wasn't imagining it.

~~~~~~~~~

OK now the explanation. This part of the Arc is Daisuke's POV, I'll call him POV!Dai. That's all him at the beginning and end. The Middle is POV!Dai's actual dream, it's the memory he's talking about. But, it is not POV!Dai narrating the dream because it's the dream as it happened. 

So, since it is Daisuke's dream, Daisuke is narrating; I'll call him past!Dai. But it seems like they are two Daisuke's in the dream. One is past!Dai who is watching himself in the dream, calling him dream!Dai, and Ken. 

So the past!Dai is watching dream!Dai and Ken interact but, at the same time, he IS dream!Dai, which is why past!Dai knows what dream!Dai is thinking and feeling but can't actually interact with the things he's watching. 

But of course somewhere along the way dream!Dai starts to diverge from past!Dai so past!Dai takes dream!Dai's place in the dream. And then the dream ends and it's POV!Dai talking again.

Whew ^_^ Hope that made sense.  


	4. Seconds

Title- Seconds

Disclaimer- I don't own anything ^_^ Well a shotty car… but that's beside the point. I'm using this with out permission but for no money ^_^ please don't sue me.

~~~~~

I let him in before I thought about what I was doing; where Daisuke is concerned, I seem to have lapses in reason. At that moment, the lapse made me forget that Leafmon was sitting in my lap and that I was trying to keep his presence a secret. I cursed myself and pushed Leafmon behind me before Daisuke entered; I didn't have to ask Leafmon to be quiet, he knows me better than I know myself. 

Then, there was Daisuke. He came to see me, or to get revenge for what I did when I went to see him. I don't remember a lot of what happened when he first appeared because I was in some sort of mental haze. I know I was moving and I'm reasonably sure I was speaking but mostly I was concerned with not doing anything stupid-- I'm not sure if that worked.

The next thing I remembered clearly is Leafmon's sneeze. I was terrified. Looking back, I know I had nothing to worry about, but at the time millions of scenarios, each getting steadily worse, ran through my head in a matter of seconds. Then Leafmon came out and I could read it on Daisuke's face, he was trying to figure out what was going on and what he was going to do about it. I couldn't watch him make the decision I was so afraid he would make.

I remember very clearly that, while I answered his questions, my eyes were stinging and I was fighting the urge to wipe them desperately. I refused to cry in front of him; I had no right to. I would try to convince him I wasn't doing anything evil and then take what ever his final decision was without argument, but I would not cry. 

And then, he offered Leafmon a cookie.

I started to grin like an idiot and one or two tears did slip out but I wiped them away and got my face under control before he noticed. I couldn't smile yet, there was still something I had to ask him, but I wasn't sure how to go about it. I had already asked so much of him and he, just by being there to see me, had already given much more than I ever could have expected or deserved, but I had to.

I tried to pull myself together to ask this last question, favor, and I did manage some semblance of order, but then I lost it. I started to speak to get his attention, but I choked on his name. I think it was the first time I had said his name honestly. Not demanding or condescending or arrogantly, just asking, and I lost it. I lost all the precious resolve I had gathered and I just stared at him. He could tell this was something important and even with his encouragement I couldn't do it, then Leafmon stepped in. 

I love him. He means the world to me and I just never realized how much of me he was until I lost him. I could never lose him again, I just couldn't. I picked him up; I wanted to give him the biggest hug ever and never let go, but he was so small and I was afraid I would hurt him so I ended up holding him in an odd sort of embrace, but he understood. He used his leaf and tickled me under my chin to let me know everything would be all right, but that really depended on Daisuke.

I watched him carefully as he looked at us and I was surprised to see a look of understanding quickly followed by sympathy.

"Hey, Ken," he said, "listen, I can't speak for them but I know they wouldn't do something like that, they wouldn't take your partner. No one can, really." 

I wanted to tell him that he was wrong about that. I had done it and they could too. I remember the look on that boy's face, Kamiya's, when he demanded that I return his Digimon. I had laughed at him; if only I had known.. . I wanted to tell him all of that but Daisuke was still talking. 

"I'm sure Leafmon would be able to explain this a lot better than I ever could… But if it will make you feel better, I won't tell them, but they'll find out eventually."

I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding, as did Leafmon; I gave him a quick hug and let him go. Then I turned to Daisuke.

Nothing I could have said would have been adequate, so I nodded my head briefly and settled for a simple, "Thank you." I knew I couldn't hide Leafmon forever, but.. . just for a little while longer. 

Then Daisuke told me when his sister was coming, and sometime while I was wondering how I was going to survive another hour with Daisuke, I noticed I was speaking. 

It wasn't as if I had no control over what I was saying, I knew exactly what was happening, I just wasn't able to stop myself from saying it. Afterwards, there was no way I could take it back, so all I could do was wait for his reaction.

I think he recognized the full extent of what I had said before I did. Then, with a little half smile that drew my attention damnably to his mouth, the next thing he said led me on a line of thought that took me directly back to kissing that mouth. That was definitely not the time to be thinking of such things. I shook my head to rid myself of those thoughts but I couldn't resist mumbling, "I remember," under my breath. Daisuke didn't say any more about that, but he did say he would bring Chibimon the next time, which set Leafmon into a fit of giggles, and then everything was fine-- Until he picked up that cookie. 

It was funny at first; he looked comical trying to wipe all of that filling away. But, the longer he kept at it, the more deadly interesting his tongue became, so I had to put a stop to it. I told him I would help and he stopped moving, then it was like watching a train wreck.

I leaned over, reached out and as soon as my hand touched his face a shock went through my whole body. It was probably just static but it felt like nothing I had ever felt before. I looked at Daisuke to see if he felt it to but he wasn't even looking at me. His eyes weren't focused but his lips were parted and he was shivering slightly, or maybe I was doing the shivering. I didn't want to move but if I had stayed there any longer I probably would have done something rash and stupid, turns out I ended up doing that anyway.

I pulled back and looked for something to wipe my hand off on but I didn't see anything other than my sheets so I decided to lick it off, which is exactly what I was doing when I heard Daisuke gasp. I looked back at him and his eyes were definitely focused this time and he was staring inscrutably at me. I suddenly realized what I was doing and what I must have looked like, so I dropped my hand and looked away, cheeks burning. I was praying for the darkness of the room to hide my expression.

After a while he said, "Ken," very softly, voice thick with some emotion that I wouldn't dare guess at.

I turned back to him and he was sitting in the exact same position, still staring at me; it had to be as still as I had ever seen him. I licked my lips, a nervous habit, and said, "Yes?" I didn't think he'd be able to see it but his eyes zoomed in on the action and I had to stop myself from cursing, I just kept making it worse.

He didn't comment on that, he just asked, "What are we doing?"

Of all the things I thought he was about to say, that was not one of them. Rather dumbly, I said, "I don't know."

Daisuke smiled, chuckled a bit and said, "No, no, you have to know because I have no clue and we both can't be stupid."

I must have looked really stupid because my jaw dropped and I started at him for a moment until I could collect the rest of my senses; it felt to surreal. I said, "Daisuke-" but he was gone before I could say the next word.

He had hopped down to the floor and started pacing while shaking his hands like they had lost circulation. I felt a nudge at my side, it was Leafmon; he pointed at Daisuke then nudged me again. I got the message but I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be doing once I got down there. I hopped over the edge of the bed and landed behind him anyway.

As soon as I hit the floor he turned and declared, "I like you." I shocked by the suddenness, then he continued, "And you like me. We're friends, right?" He was starting to make a really nasty habit of making me feel stupid.

In any event, he seemed really agitated and I wanted to tell him to calm down but he was going to fast. "This doesn't make any sense and it really should. I mean, we should be able to work this out. Is there anything to work out?" 

He paused to wait for a response, which I started to give, but he cut me off at the first syllable.

"OK, we need to work this out so we'll have to think about it."  And then he sat on the floor.

I tried to get his attention but he "shushed" me. The whole situation probably would have been hilarious had it not been so utterly confusing at the time. I looked to Leafmon who shrugged bounced out of view, so I sat down and waited. After a couple of seconds, with a sudden and loud "huff," Daisuke jumped up and exclaimed, "I can't think of anything!" Then he proceeded to pace around the room. Well, sort of.

He took one step, then started to take another, hesitated, then turned, then hesitated again, turned once, then twice, took three steps, stopped, then took two more steps, turned abruptly—He was making me dizzy so I leaned back to lie on the floor and stare up at the ceiling. 

I could hear, and occasionally see, Leafmon bouncing around on my bed. I could hear Daisuke's odd rhythm-less pacing, but he never wandered into my field of vision. I could hear the computers hum and my mother humming some tune in the kitchen. It all reminded me of a more peaceful time, then, I remembered times had never been peaceful. Still, I felt calmer than I had in ages.

That's when Daisuke found the light switch. He cut on the lights in the room and it took my eyes a couple of painful minutes to adjust to the brightness after spending the last couple of days in the dark. Almost as soon as my eyes adjusted, he turned the lights off again, then on, then off. Then, thankfully, he walked away from the switch. I've always been more comfortable in the dark, anyway.

I lost track of how much time passed while I stayed on the floor thinking of nothing in particular, aside from the irregular pattern of his steps.

Suddenly, the steps stopped and he appeared, standing over me. He announced that he figured out a plan, and without any sort of fanfare he said, "I want you to kiss me again."

I bolted upright, "WHAT!?"

"Well.. . I was thinking about.. . well not about that but.. . and well.. . I think.. ."

I started to say something, anything, what it was going to be, I'll never know because before I started the first word he said, "You're right. That's a stupid idea. I'll think of something else." Then he walked away.

I will readily admit that I've had an obsession, possibly unhealthy, with Daisuke for as long as I've known him, so it would be impossible for me to correctly explain the things that were going through my head just then. However, in summery, I can say it basically came down to I thought his idea was brilliant. But, at the time, I could never admit that to him, or myself. 

"Wait," he said, surprising me again, "I do want you to kiss me again. I figure, I've been thinking and wondering about it a lot since the last time and.. . If you kiss me again I can stop wondering and we can just put it behind us ya know but if you don't want to I understand." He finished in a rush but I understood the whole thing. It took a lot of guts to say that, I know I wouldn't have been able to, so it was only my duty to oblige him, right?

"Ok."

He looked at me like he didn't quite catch what I had said. 

So I repeated it, "Ok. If you want to, I mean if you think it would help, then Ok."

He took a deep breath and said, "Fine."

And there we were, standing in the middle of my room, about to kiss, and scared to death. Well, perhaps scared to death was a bit much, but after we finally agreed to get it over with, no one made the first move. Finally, Daisuke started to laugh, and I couldn't help it, I start to laugh too; suddenly it didn't seem so serious. I took a step forward and he stepped forward and it just happened.

Now I can't say that I had a lot of experience or that I knew exactly what I was doing, but I put everything I had into that kiss. For all I knew it would was the last chance I would ever have to kiss him and, call me selfish, but I wanted to make it something he would never forget. 

It started off slow, I was just savoring his taste, trying to commit him to memory, and then he started to kiss me back. From there it got more intense; I grabbed his face to deepen the kiss and his fingers wrapped in the shirt I was wearing so tight that the fabric started to rip but I couldn't have cared less. I could feel his knees give out when he sagged against me and I started to get light headed from the lack of air but I would have gladly passed right there just to stay lost in that kiss. I tried to put everything I was into that kiss for him; our lips moved, our tongues danced together, and it was the most amazing thing I had ever experienced.  

And then, a knock at my door, "Boys, Daisuke's sister is here to pick him up," my mother said tentatively from the other side.

We stumbled apart so fast it left my head dizzy and my chest aching. Daisuke, in particular, looked like he had been roused to full alertness very rudely and unpleasantly. We stared at each other over expanse of three or four feet, but it felt like miles, and I realized I had absolutely nothing to say. Daisuke mumbled something about having to leave and then he dashed out of the room, leaving me alone and still panting. I stood there for I don't know how many minutes, listening to him stumble over a polite goodbye to my mother and the sound of the front door closing behind him; even minutes after he left I still could remember what it felt like to kiss Motomiya Daisuke.

The first coherent thought I had several minutes later was, "Damn. He left the cookie plate."


	5. Interlude: Takeru

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or the characters therein. They belong to a long and various list of owners that does not include me in any way, shape, or form. What a shame. I'm using them with out permission but I'm not making any money off of these ^_^ and I don't mean any harm.

Interlude:

Takeru.

It's over, at least for the moment. The Kaizer has been defeated and now all that's left is the clean up. You spent all day in the Digital World helping with clean up and now you're dead tired. You have some homework you should get started on, but you can barely lift your arms, so it's just going to have to wait.

With nothing else to do, your mind starts to wander. At first you start to think about your earlier thoughts, that there's some new danger in the Digital World that hasn't yet revealed itself. The thought is troubling, especially since you feel the Digital World has gone through enough recently and really shouldn't have to deal with more problems.

But of course, thinking about a new unknown enemy led you back to the old enemy and to the thoughts you have been trying to avoid for the past week.

The kiss.

You came up with a quick story to tell everyone after the fact, and you spent the whole time since then trying everything you could to drive the thought from your head. But now, with nothing else to do, it's creeping up on you again.

You really did have the intention of knocking some sense into Ichijouji when you left Iori, Armadillomon and Tentomon to free the digimon from the holding cells; it just hadn't worked out that way. So, most of the story you told the other Digidestined had been true enough just heavily edited.

Ken had struck you first with the whip. It hurt; the mark from that had just faded away about a day ago, but you managed to laugh it off. Your remark about solving everything with violence had not turned out as well as you made it seem. Instead of hesitating, Ichijouji had dropped the whip and strode over. You had been so sure the Kaizer was about to throw a punch that you balled up your own fist and shifted your weight to counter it. But you underestimated Ichijouji's speed and you completely misjudged his intent, and before you blinked, the Kaizer had grabbed your face and dragged you in.

What a mess. It wasn't like that had been your first kiss, thank goodness. Hikari and you have kissed a couple of times before, but you both agreed that the two of you weren't really ready for that yet, so it never went anywhere… It figures; it wasn't like you could have expected the Kaizer to respect your boundaries or anything like that.

No, the problem isn't that the Kaizer kissed you, the problem is that no matter how much you try to deny it, ignore it, or not even think about it, you can't think of anything else! You had been using the fight for the Digital World as a convenient distraction; but now it's over, and you have nothing else to focus on.

And if you're honest with yourself, it's not even the kiss that's bothering you, it's the "What ifs." What if Ichijouji hadn't been such a jerk about it? What if you had gotten over the shock in time to kiss him back?

It's really exasperating to think that the Kaizer has gotten to you this way, but there is nothing you can do about it now, you just have to deal with it.

You know you like Hikari, but you also know the couple of times that you have kissed her have been nothing like what had happened with Ichijouji. If your kisses had been anything like that, you probably would have found some way to be kissing her right now. On the other hand, it could have just been a fluke; it happened so fast that you had barely registered what was happening before it was over. So, obviously, you need to find a way to test if it was just a one time thing, which would mean doing it again.

There is absolutely no way you are going to kiss Ichijouji again. Nuh-uh. No way. No how. But… maybe… naw, you just need to find another guy. Of course, that was way easier said than done. You don't really have a lot of options. You're not willing to go to any of the guys at school, you barely knew them… which really only leaves the guys you do know: the other Digidestined.

You wouldn't dare go to Taichi. Tai would end up telling Yamato and just the thought of that is enough to send your skin crawling. Yamato would never let you live it down… or worse. What if Yamato decided he wanted to help? He would probably start trying to set you up with his band's groupies… or one of the guys in the band! No. Just no.

You could probably get Koushiro or Jyou to at least be discreet about it, but… they just didn't seem like the right people to go to about something like this. If it were a question about computers, or school work, or something like that, you wouldn't hesitate; but not for this.

That, of course, leaves the current Digidestined, where your prospects are even bleaker. Iori is way too young and Daisuke is… Daisuke is…

Well, why not Daisuke?

You start to give the matter of Daisuke some serious thought. You know you joke about Daisuke a lot but you don't really mean anything by it. Really, it was just that Daisuke was so much like Taichi; it was hard not to make jokes. Daisuke was goofy, that was true, but he was also brave and courageous and he was certainly a good friend. And he wasn't stupid either; he was turning out to be a pretty good leader.

But you're pretty sure he's straight, the way he chases after Hikari and all that…. But then again, if Taichi is anything to judge by, then maybe…. After all, Taichi had spent ages chasing after Sora, but now it was so obvious that there was something going on between him and Yamato….

Maybe Daisuke wasn't such a bad choice after all. It's not like you're looking for a life long commitment anyway; you just need help with this one small matter.

And now you're stumped again. You have no idea how to go about asking for help with this, you're not even sure exactly what you're asking help for.

You close your eyes and think back to the moment, the kiss. You think about how the Kaizer grabbed you and pressed your lips together. It was hard and fast and… shocking. Just as shocking to remember now as it was when it happened. You remember how the Kaizer sucked on your bottom lip, bringing it into his mouth. Of course that was just so the Kaizer could bite you, not hard enough to draw blood, but it had stung for the rest of the day. And wasn't it just like that jerk to spoil the moment like that…

But that was just the problem, it had been a moment… and now it seems like that's the only thing you can think about.

Yep, this is definitely something you could use Daisuke's help with. But you still don't know what or how to ask. It's all too easy to picture Daisuke laughing at you if he thinks you're joking, and you don't know if you'll be able to handle that. So you think you'll have to wait for a day when you'll have time to explain the whole situation to Daisuke. It should be after school someday, or maybe even over the weekend. It will be difficult but it won't be impossible. You can walk home with Daisuke one day; maybe start the conversation about soccer to keep his interest…

You give yourself a moment to imagine what it would be like to kiss Daisuke. He probably wouldn't bite. But maybe he would hold your face, take the lead like he always thinks he has to. And he would kiss like his personality, too fast, all force and no skill but still good. Or maybe it won't be like that at all. Maybe it will go slow because it will be his first time and you'll both be nervous and…

You shake your head, you don't want to get too carried away. You don't want to get carried away at all. It's a stupid idea and you're going to just forget the whole thing. You're going to sleep, things will look better in the morning.

But of course, nothing ever works out the way you plan. You managed to keep your attention focused on the Digital World for all of about four days, nothing happened; nothing regarding a new threat, anyway. The clean up was going smoothly and you were managing to keep your act together. It was something else that came up.

Ever since your little idea to get Daisuke to help with your "problem" you've been watching him, closely. And that would be why you were so quick to notice something was wrong. Daisuke started acting really weird, well, weirder than normal. He was suddenly… just… out of it. He would zone out during the middle of conversations and he was really jumpy like he had just seen a ghost or something like that. But you had to question your observations. After all, you were the only one to notice the change, so you thought maybe you were just imagining the whole thing.

You decided to ask Hikari if she had noticed anything, she was normally much better at noticing these types of things. And to your surprise, you found out it wasn't that she hadn't noticed, it was that she hadn't cared.

"Takeru," she said, looking at you like you were crazy for bring it up, "It's just Daisuke; he's always acting weird. He's not acting any different from normal. Why do you care anyway?"

And that had been a dangerous enough question for you to drop it and walk away, at least as far as Hikari was concerned. But you were more convinced that there was something going on, so you went straight to the source.

Daisuke was an absolute wealth of non-information. When you first asked him about it he tried to play it off but after he realized you weren't going to let it go, he started avoiding you. He was walking away when you tried to talk to him and taking clean up projects in the Digital World as far away from you as he could get.

It went on for weeks until one day, just as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. You were very happy to see Daisuke had gotten over… whatever it was, but it seemed like he was still avoiding you. Every time you tried to talk to him he was still walking away, only he was doing it with a smile and a wave. That went on for a couple of more days and then you saw -him- again.

Last night you thought about the new situation. Ken was back, and it seemed like he was up to no good again. You had hoped that if he was ever going to go back to the Digital World, that he would have changed his ways. You thought he had wised up to Digimon being real. But you know what you saw and even though you don't want to believe it, Ken and that new Digimon had destroyed Thundermon. It was possible, however unlikely, that there was something more going on than what you had seen; that Digimon had saved Iori, by his own acknowledgement, and even Daisuke wasn't quite ready to believe the worst of the situation. You wanted to believe that Ken was no longer capable of something like that, but you were willing to accept that nothing had changed. If he had to be stopped again, the only way you were going to be able to do that would be with a united Digidestined team. That meant you had to get Daisuke back on task. For some reason, you had a feeling that was going to be more difficult than it sounded.

Today you showed up at school absolutely determined to get Daisuke to talk to you. The problem was you couldn't get a hold of him. He darted out of the morning class that you share as soon as the bell rang, and you didn't even think it had anything to do with avoiding you this time. You couldn't get a hold of him at Lunch because he and Hikari were on cafeteria duty, though you did notice he and Hikari had an awful lot to talk about. And he never showed up for gym class! You weren't discouraged though, everyone was planning to go to the Digital World after school again, and you could catch him then.

You dashed to the computer room before anyone else had made it and you hung out with the Digimon until Miyako came in, and then you couldn't take wait anymore. You told Miyako that you were just going to take a quick walk and you'd be right back, Patamon asked to come with you so you took him along. Really, you were trying to catch Daisuke alone in the hall; you didn't want to have the conversation in front of Miyako. Ah, but you were undone by one of those simple quirks of life; left or right.

You went left and he must have come from the right because when you made the full circle of the hallway and approached the computer room from the right side, he was storming out of the room to the left, with Chibimon trailing behind him. A quick conversation with Miyako kinda clued you in on what was going on and it only took a long moment of hesitation before you decided to follow him. You didn't know what he was up to, because he wouldn't talk to you, but you figured he might need some back up. Plus, you thought you might get the opportunity you were looking for.

This brings you to your current situation, and what a situation it is. Generally you don't approve of eavesdropping, but you are not going to go down there to announce yourself and you surely are not going to leave Daisuke alone with him, so you find yourself standing at the bridge and listening.

You hear Daisuke trying to get Ken to join the team and you're startled to find yourself disappointed when Ken rejects the offer! What are you crazy? Do you actually want -him- to… What if he….

"Hey Takeru," Patamon asks from the perch on top of your hat, "Do you think Daisuke is right about Ken? Should we forgive him for what he's done?"

And you surprise yourself again, by answering truthfully. You do believe everyone deserves a second chance, yes even Ken. Maybe it's enough that he doesn't forgive himself; you don't need to hold a grudge.

You spare one last glance at Daisuke, his profile, turned to look at the river, he looks… sad. You turn and walk away; you're going home with a lot to think about.


End file.
